Carry Me Away
by animalwriter
Summary: Fawkes has been imprisoned for nearly a thousand years in the body of a phoenix, but will an encounter with Severus Snape break the spell and help reveal her true destiny? And can she save him in time? Written for a Facebook group challenge fic. Severus x a female Fawkes.
1. The Forbidden Forest

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is a new fic written as a part of a challenge for the Facebook group Lovers of the Potions Master. The challenge was outlined as follows: "What if Fawkes wasn't just a phoenix, but instead under a spell that could only be broken under the most extreme circumstances. Write a one-shot of Fawkes revealing herself to Severus to save his life etc."**

**Although this is technically a one-shot, since my fic is approaching the maximum 10,000 words I have chosen to break it up into four smaller chapters for ease of reading. Thus, please enjoy Chapter One below! Thanks for reading! :-)**

**Disclaimer: All material from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling. Also please forgive me if I erred a bit on the history portion of this chapter, where I tried to work a Wizard/Muggle conflict into a historical battle which was new, but very interesting, to me to learn about.**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE: THE FORBIDDEN FOREST

* * *

Tangled, claw-like branches closed in overhead as Severus Snape ran through the Forbidden Forest in swift pursuit of his enemies. The pair of Aurors had disappeared into the darkness ahead just a few minutes back, and although the starless, moonless night was so black he could no longer see them, he had other ways of tracking their presence.

At approaching twenty years of age, Severus was already one of the Dark Lord's most trusted Death Eaters. He was mastering Occlumency and Legilimency and thus was adept at extracting the thoughts of the fleeing witch and wizard, sensing their direction and even their speed. His Master had also been teaching him how to fly without a broom, but Snape had not yet perfected the skill and thus, although it would assist his pursuit, it was unwise to attempt in these dark woods with so many obstacles in his path. Thus, he followed them on foot.

For now. But imagine their shock if he was able to drive them into a clearing and attack them from the air, aiming a deluge of powerful spells they could not hope to avoid. The thought brought a sneer of delight to the young Death Eater's lips.

Severus cast a silencing charm on his feet, rendering what would have been the noise of the crunching leaf litter below into nothing. They could not hear him coming. He was a predator, and his prey was unaware. This was just the way he liked it.

But their thoughts were dimming the further he ran in the woods. No. No, he would not lose them. Perhaps they were also trained in the spells of the mind, but that was of no consequence. If they were using Occlumency on him then so be it. He had other skills. His senses were sharp. He would find them.

He had been traveling for only a few more minutes when he heard it. The sound of human treads crunching through the litter and the brush. Severus licked his lips. They were close. And they had forgotten to silence their footfalls.

He turned down a new path in the direction of the sounds, their echoes getting louder with each step he took. If he didn't know any better he would have said the forest was getting darker, but that was impossible on a night as black as this. It was probably only his mood that colored his surroundings. And that was a good darkness. The darkness of anticipation of a capture. He left the killing to the Dark Lord, and the Dark Lord assured he only killed when it was necessary to prevent the Muggle-loving fools from perverting the possibility of a pure world. Severus was merely an agent for this greater mission, eliminating corruption.

After growing up with his father and seeing the evil Muggles brought into the world, there had been only one Muggle-loving fool Severus could abide in his life, and yet she had abandoned him. Abandoned him years ago and now, rumor had it, she and her husband were expecting a child. He still did not understand how she could live that life without feeling any guilt or remorse over their lost friendship.

Maybe she did feel guilt, but Severus had no way of knowing. She had cut him out of her life. And so now all he had was this glory. The glory of being a Death Eater. And maybe one day Lily would see that, abandon Potter and her old ways, and come back to him. But if not, at least he could make his mark on this world. That was what the Dark Lord offered, and that was what Severus had chosen. It was now all he desired.

A rustle from above disrupted his thoughts and he imagined he heard footsteps again, but from the air. Severus's reflexes were lightning fast and he looked up into the trees, but all he saw was a strange shimmer, like a long, glittering thread...

It was nothing. Merely the wind and tricks of whatever light remained this night. Complete darkness was, after all, impossible.

Severus continued into the forest, toward the ever-loudening paces of his prey.

* * *

Fawkes soared through the moonless night, over the towering turrets of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and towards the castle ground and the Forbidden Forest in the distance. Usually she did not fly at night, rather remained comfortably on her perch in sleep, awaiting the next morning when Albus would greet her with treats and friendly words before starting his headmaster's work for the day.

But tonight was different. Something was afoot, something dark and unusual. Even cruel. She knew only that she needed to be here, to see it. Because it was important.

These days a dark threat had been brewing, and it was the one thing that kept Albus up nights, that worried his brow during the day, and that distracted him from his normal duties. This was a dark wizard ten times worse than Albus's lost love Grindelwald, because he had mutilated his soul to gain this power. Lord Voldemort, formerly wizard Tom Riddle, and his army of Death Eaters ravaged the land, growing more and more powerful each day.

It was common knowledge that they wanted to eventually take Hogwarts, defeat Albus, gain control of the Ministry and the school, and build a new world based upon hatred and bigotry against Muggles, Muggle-borns, and creatures they considered 'half-breeds', such as the goblins and centaurs.

Albus was making every effort to counter this threat. He had even established a powerful group of Aurors and other strong witches and wizards, the Order of the Phoenix, named after Fawkes herself, to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Many times the two groups had clashed with each other, and as yet, no one had come out the stronger. And so the battles raged on.

Tonight there had been a battle.

A battle that had infringed on the very walls of Hogwarts herself.

Their battles often took them to this area these days. As they gathered more and more followers they came to make further attempts to breach the school's defenses. Similar attempts were often made on the Ministry, and thus Aurors were consistently patrolling both locations to head them off. Thus far, the Dark Lord, as his followers called him, had not yet amassed enough power to overtake either place. But it was only a matter of time.

Fawkes diverted her flight to just outside the gates, to see if she could get a sense of what deeper meaning this battle held, so she would know what her role was.

The area outside the gate was dark and quiet, but the keen eyesight of the phoenix allowed her to make out a few figures in conference. Their hoods and masks covered their faces, but she could hear the hissing voice of Voldemort himself, and the garb convinced her unequivocally that the remaining two were Death Eaters.

Eons ago, in her youth as a human, the presence of such evil would have made her shudder, but Fawkes had seen so many dark wizards in her time, ever since that date long ago... the date that she had been transformed.

Nearly a thousand years had passed since Fawkes had last seen her human reflection in the mirror. In those bygone days, Muggle and Wizard society had existed together, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in discord. Fawkes, given the unusual first name which had been a family surname of her ancestors, had been a courtier in the time of King Edward the Confessor.

They had been peaceful times, the Muggle king a good ruler. But as it was in those days of growing unrest between two very different peoples, trouble had brewed. The Godwin family, a race of strong wizards, had begun to rise in power in hopes to take over the throne. Most were ambitious, but good, and yet one... The Forgotten Godwin, as Fawkes liked to think of him, because his name had been erased from the Muggle history books, had used his dark magic to ensure that his family would eventually come to power. It was because of this man's, Aldous's, largely-unnoticed efforts that upon His Majesty's death their king was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, a good man, but also unknowingly manipulated by Aldous.

The reign of Aldous and the Godwins did not last long, however, as William the Conqueror and his Norman army invaded the British Isles. The conquering army won the war for two reasons, both of which Fawkes would never forget. First, their army had consisted of both Wizards and Muggles, working together. That solidarity gave them a distinct advantage over the Anglo-Saxons whose magical and non-magical populations had become bitterly divided due to Aldous's influence. And second, their army had had inside help. Fawkes's help. A participation that had directly led to the phoenix spell being cast upon her.

In the good days, before the war, Fawkes had been famous for her haunting voice, often singing for the court, and for her aptitude for fire spells. She had had many suitors, but none had struck her fancy. Among the Muggles, arranged marriages were common, but as a witch she had been given greater choice in who she would marry.

Long story short, she did not have the blissful life she had hoped for. Aldous, The Forgotten Godwin, heard her sing in court and decided to make her his wife. Alone, his strength was no match for her, and he took her to his bedchamber each night of their extended engagement, forcing her to sing for him and then having her body. His powers of manipulation were so great that no one knew. All the remainder of the court could see was her songs growing sadder and sadder, more and more haunting, as she waited and hoped for someone to take her away from all this.

The only positive aspect of being imprisoned as Aldous's secret fiancée was that her nightly proximity to him allowed her to stay up when she should have been quietly sleeping, listening to his meetings, learning of his plans and his weaknesses. Her only remaining strength was to somehow use that information to put a stop to him. For not only was he hurting her more and more each day, but if his plans would come to fruition he would likely have destroyed their beautiful country as well.

And then William came.

Before Aldous, Fawkes wouldn't have thought for a moment of betraying her country to a conquering army, but as it was now the future of her people depended upon the conquering army's success. At great risk to her own life she assisted them, until finally Willam's army cornered Harold and Aldous with him at the Battle of Hastings. In a last-ditch effort to make everything all right Fawkes was able to convince Harold of Aldous's treachery, but it was too late.

Her role exposed, Aldous's last act before the conquering army, working together, defeated him, was to cast a spell on Fawkes, her fire spells and haunting songs condemning her to life as a phoenix, to be born and to die in the flames only to be reborn again in a never-ending cycle. Never to truly live. Never on her own, not as herself, and never the way she had dreamt.

And yet, in a twist of fate similar to that in the Muggle tale of the sleeping princess, before his death Harold Godwinson had helped her. Despite her assistance to the enemy, he forgave her, now that he knew Aldous's true colors, and did the only thing he was strong enough to do. He could not break the spell on his own, but he gave her a glimmer of hope. If ever there was something she was truly needed for, something that _only she _could do, the spell would break.

And yet, in the hundreds of years following that fateful event, Fawkes had slowly lost her belief in such a thing ever happening. Anything she could do, after all, any phoenix could do. It didn't seem to matter whether they were available or not for the job; if it wasn't something that was only for her, the spell would not break. But what could only she do? There seemed to be... nothing.

It was not a total loss. She had spent many years on the wing, searching for the means to break the spell, traveling all over the Earth and watching time pass. As a result, he knew the detailed history of most countries at least as far as the first half of the second millennium. By then, her hope for an escape from the spell was all but naught, and she had come to terms with her phoenix form. But she was tired of flying, and wanted to find a home, thus returning to the closest thing to home she knew that still stood the same as it had in her days as a human.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Fawkes had been among the first few generations of witches and wizards to attend Hogwarts after its construction, and it had comforted her to see that it did not change. Like her, it cycled, new students, new teachers, new generations, yet always it was still the same. Like a loyal friend. It was a match made in heaven, and Fawkes had stayed.

She had known many headmasters and headmistresses in her hundreds of years at Hogwarts, but she had never bonded closely with anyone. Rather, she had been the school's resident phoenix, keeping the company of many but never for too long or too closely.

Until Albus.

He had been a student at Hogwarts when they had met, and there had been a bond. Something there, something that Fawkes hadn't felt for another being since she had been human, and especially ironic since Aldous and Albus's names were so similar. They had become close, and Albus had told her all of his secrets, including the tragic tale of his family and his poor dear sister Ariana. She had even flown to visit him in Godric's Hollow from time to time after he graduated, and it was there that she had another run-in with a dark wizard.

Gellert Grindelwald. Albus had been smitten, and told her in hushed tones of their plans to rule the world together for the greater good. It had been in those days that Fawkes had most desperately wished she could become human again, if only so that she could tell Albus who she was and why she _knew _deep in her heart that the greater good could only be accomplished if wizards and Muggles lived in harmony. Then, she had begged every conceivable force in the universe to let the spell be broken, to allow her to do something. And yet, she hadn't been needed.

It was a cruel twist of fate, that the only thing to change Albus's mind had been the loss of his innocent sister. Her spell could be so cruel. It didn't matter that she could have helped him, and helped him in a way that hurt no one, but since she wasn't the only one who could have set Albus back on the right path... the spell had not been broken. He had to lose both his sister and the trust of the man he had thought to be the love of his life in order to find himself again. Too cruel, indeed.

It was then that she decided never to leave his side. There were no bonds of romance involved, but she loved him. He was her friend, her brother, her companion. And they had remained together ever since.

Now, yet another dark wizard threatened. In her years as a phoenix Fawkes had lost the fear she had originally had of Aldous and of relationships. She had grown stronger as a bird than she had ever been as a human, and so if she stayed like this forever perhaps it would not be so terrible. Her wish to be human again, to know friendship with many others and to know love as a woman, real love with no abuse and no pain... perhaps it was just foolish fancy. It was no longer something she dwelled on much. There were things she could do as a phoenix. Maybe not things that only she could do, but she would not let that stop her from doing everything she could, whenever she could do it.

Hence, here she was, listening in on a conversation between the fearsome Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"I killed one," the shorter of the two Death Eaters bragged in hushed tones to his master, none of them bothering to look up and see the phoenix perched on the school gates, hidden in the shadows of the moonless night.

"I killed two," the second seemed even prouder of his Auror-slaying accomplishment, perhaps because he had bested his companion.

"And yet we are no closer to breaching the school's defenses than we have ever been," Voldemort hissed, and Fawkes was not surprised to see that he refused to stoop to the level of complimenting his underlings on a 'job well done'. "How many did we lose?"

"I saw them take two," said the shorter.

"And one other," added the taller.

"And where is Severus?" Voldemort demanded.

Severus! The sound of the name caused Fawkes's heart to skip a beat. She knew him. He had been another one she had gotten close to. So he had become a Death Eater after all, then, had he? Yet another person she hadn't been able to help, and one that had needed it, perhaps even more than Albus...

Fawkes had to use all of her inner fire to prevent herself from uttering a sad coo at Severus's fate. He hadn't talked much of his feelings, but she had seen him on the grounds and in the halls before, with his friend Lily, until he had lost her to James Potter. Once, at the end of his first year, she had found him alone on the grounds terrified because he had to go home to where his father hurt him. She had landed near him on that occasion, not the first she had seen him but the longest she had stayed with him, as he had stroked her feathers and, she hoped, been comforted a bit. By the time Lily abandoned him he had been less approachable, but once he had offered her a treat while waiting in the headmaster's office in the hopes of getting James Potter and Sirius Black expelled. Needless to say, he had not been successful.

"I saw him chase two Aurors into the Forbidden Forest," said the tall Death Eater, "but that was quite a while ago."

"Pity," Voldemort's voice held no true pity, however, only selfish regret. "He had potential to become one of my best Death Eaters."

"Pardon me, My Lord, but do you mean to say he is a lost cause?" the shorter one asked.

"Yes, Avery, I'm afraid that is just what I mean. There are things in that forest..." he smiled and his teeth positively shone with vindictiveness, "Never you mind."

Fawkes ruffled her feathers in fury, glad that a gust of wind in the nearby trees drowned out the sound. How dare he... just leave Severus there in the forest... he could still be alive...

"Then we're just going to leave him there?" the other questioned.

"Do you have a problem with that, Lucius?" the evil wizard purred, danger in every syllable, his hand reaching for his wand.

Ah, then the other was Lucius Malfoy. Both he and Avery had known Severus in school. At least they showed some reluctance to leave him behind. In Fawkes's experience, the followers of dark wizards were, by and large, never quite as evil as their leader. They were more... misguided, generally. Although you did have the true sadists as well.

"I... that is, no. Perhaps he'll find his way out anyway. After all, if we go back in we'll only be in danger, won't we? And I did promise Narcissa I would come home tonight..."

"Yes, My Lord. Let's make our retreat now," Avery said, his tone just as uneasy.

And, with that, their Dark Lord lowered his wand and the three Apparated away, Lucius taking one last look back at the forest before he disappeared into the night.

Fawkes took off from her perch, making her way towards the forest. Had she been imagining things or had Lucius looked straight at her for a split second? She wasn't sure. All she knew was that if they were too cowardly to go search for their friend, she was not. If Severus Snape was still alive in that forest, she was going to find him and get him out.


	2. The Rescue

**A/N: Hi again! Thanks for reading! The song in this chapter, 'Carry Me Away', which also gives this story its title, is a song sung in English from the anime 'Kaiba'. If you search online you should be able to find the lyrics. I thought it fit the story very well, but I do not own it. Enjoy! :-)**

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CHAPTER TWO: THE RESCUE

* * *

Severus growled under his breath. How far had he been walking towards their footsteps without catching up with the Aurors?

He was surprised Lucius and the others hadn't come after him yet. Perhaps they had cornered some Aurors elsewhere outside of Hogwarts and were busy. Maybe it would be better if he left before they had to organize a search party. And yet if he lost his prey the Dark Lord's opinion of him would drop. And if he was able to bring them down his status would skyrocket. No, he would keep after them. They were only steps ahead, their thoughts silent but their footfalls loud and clear. He would find them.

Only a few more steps into the woods and the sound of scuffling overhead drew Severus's attention. He jerked his gaze upward, into the gnarled branches of the trees, just in time to see something scurry by, as well as those strange glittering silver threads still shining in the darkness. Some creature of the night, no doubt. He did not have time to linger, or to worry about the tricks his eyes played on him. He had other senses, and they were following the footsteps.

Ignoring the sounds of more scuffling, coming from behind him and seeming to pass him in the night, running ahead, he continued on.

* * *

There he was! Fawkes had spotted him, still in the woods, and safe, but storming forward with resolve as though on a mission. He didn't look so different than she remembered him from his school days. He was taller, and some of his scrawniness was filling out into the muscles of manhood, but he still had that lank stringy hair and long nose from his youth that his peers had so loved to cruelly tease him about.

To Fawkes, though, he had always had a strange sort of attractiveness about him. And those eyes, so dark and piercing, yet they had always held a sort of innocence as well. A loneliness, too. That would not change, no matter how much of a Death Eater he thought himself to be. He had not had an easy life. It had driven him to this.

Fawkes watched him plow through the brush, his feet making no noise. He had probably spelled them to – no, there was a noise. Human footsteps, echoing from no more than a quarter mile in front of Snape, but not moving forward, staying stationary, and not quite right. Not exactly the sound of human footsteps, but something familiar...

And then it hit her with a crushing agony the true meaning of Lord Voldemort's words to his two Death Eaters moments ago. His words that there were things in this forest. But he had not finished. He had not told them. He had not warned _any _of his Death Eaters about what he knew lived in these woods.

He had not told them about the acromantulas, and now Severus was walking straight into their nest.

Now that she knew what to look for she saw them, too. The spiders, en route to their central web from all over the forest, knowing that prey was approaching. They scurried through the branches towards the nest in rows, passing right over Severus's head without him even stopping to notice. The strands of their webs glittered in what little light remained this night, clustering thicker and more frequent the closer Snape approached their web, the 'footsteps' he was following really the spiders' plucking the silk strands, mimicking the sounds of human treads to near perfection, luring in their prey in the culmination of years of brilliant magical breeding.

And yet still Severus pressed on, thinking he was after his Aurors. He was still such a young Death Eater. Overconfident. Naïve. Even stupid.

The hunter had become the hunted.

Not if Fawkes could help it. There was still time. And, though she couldn't completely explain the sheer strength of her conviction and need, the last thing she wanted to see was Severus killed by those spiders. He had a greater future than that; she _knew _it in deep in her soul.

She called out to him, flying low over his head, but he marched on. Was he ignoring everything now? Did she just sound like any bird, squawking in the night? How could she get his attention?

Her song. That was the answer. He knew her song. Fawkes flew swiftly ahead and perched on a branch he would be ducking under very soon. She was not afraid of the spiders. After all, she had phoenix fire on her side. But it wouldn't be enough to save Severus from all of them if he made it to the nest. Which was why she had to act now.

Fawkes opened her beak and sang, one of her most beautiful songs, in the form of a phoenix lament that Severus would be certain to hear, that would touch him to his very core. It was a song she had sung when she was a girl, called 'Carry Me Away', when she had been imprisoned by Aldous and still held out hope of getting her life back, of being free. Severus had heard her sing it before.

* * *

A cool wind whipped through the forest as Severus tailed his victims, and with it a hauntingly beautiful melody that made him slow to a momentary stop. It had been a while, and he had been ignoring the wind and the scuttling of forest creatures in the branches, but this was new, and made him look up. The song was familiar, and felt as though it were coming from both deep inside of him and right in front of him.

Yes. There, on a branch ahead, was Fawkes the phoenix, headmaster Dumbledore's pet bird. Severus had fond memories of this creature, though his memories of the headmaster were quite a bit less than fond. If they took over Hogwarts he had, he now realized, hoped Fawkes would see their superiority and come over to their side. But she was loyal to the headmaster...

"Fawkes, what are you doing here?"

At his question, Fawkes's feathers puffed up with joy, a warm fire rising in her chest. He had stopped, he had acknowledged her. And his eyes held no malice now. He looked hardly any different than he had as a little boy telling her about his awful father. There was still a connection between them.

She took off from the branch and flew down to land on the leaf litter in front of him, taking a few steps forward, cooing and nodding her head off in the other direction, trying to tell him he had to go home. Go back. Get out while he still could.

Baffled, Severus watched the large red bird cock its head at him, rustling the ground with its feet and making the noise Severus had tried so hard to conceal from his prey. "Shush," he admonished the bird, holding a finger to his lips. What rotten luck this was. "I don't have time to play right now." He turned to continue through the forest after the footsteps, intent on walking around the interloper.

Fawkes could only watch in dismay as Severus scolded her like he would a foolish pet, and continued onward. He couldn't keep going. The clicking sounds above her indicated that the spiders were getting restless, anxious. Once he made it to the nest they would be on him so quickly Fawkes might not even have time to heal him with her tears.

She could already feel those tears of sorrow. She could not lose him. Not Severus. In this moment she knew he was as dear to her as Albus was, maybe even more so. It was time for desperate measures. She burst into flame and flew ahead of him, matching and then surpassing his pace as he picked up speed and tried to get away from her. She had to save him.

She stopped in front of him, hovering in the air, a majestic sight, she knew, with her flames engulfing her body. They felt stronger, warmer, and fiercer than they ever had before. It was her conviction. If she could not stop him she would grab him and Apparate him away from here whether he liked it or not. But he might come back. What could she do? He needed to know _why _she was taking him away. Maybe there was some way she could make him understand.

"Severus!" The strangled cry that escaped her lips was not a squawk, but a voice she hadn't heard in what felt like eons. She could still feel the flames around her but something had changed. She reached for him, not with a wing, but with a hand, with fingers. And he stopped and stared. She had done it. She had gotten through to him, she knew she had. And this time, somehow... it had been something only she could do.

"Merlin..." Severus could only form that one word when he saw the raven-haired beauty standing in front of him. He did not know what had happened, but Fawkes the phoenix had chased him through the wood in a fierce pursuit that had surprised and confused him, and then in a burst of flame she had transformed before his very eyes into this young woman, perhaps a bit older than him but certainly not old. And now she was staring down at her hands in wide-eyed contemplation, her expression one of soft wonder. He could not stop looking.

Fawkes could not believe her eyes, but it was true. The spell had been broken. The tears welling in her human eyes... she did not know whether they were tears of joy or of desperation. After all, Severus was still the spiders' intended victim, if she did not do something to stop it. "Severus, please, you must leave this place."

"Who _are _you?"

"You know me," she took a few hesitant steps toward him, reaching out again, afraid he would run around her once more, but he did not move. She was surprised at the steadiness in her human legs after nearly a millennium of non-use. "I'm Fawkes. Your friend. If you'll have me as one. If you'll listen to what I have to say. I've been trapped in the body of a phoenix for nearly a thousand years, and now you're the only one alive today who even knows. But you can't stay here. You _must_ go home."

"You're Fawkes?" He did not seem to be registering her pleas yet, only her transformation. "I always thought... you were a boy."

"Severus, this is hardly the time for gender confusion!" She didn't know whether to be insulted, amused, or frustrated. Frustration won out. "You have been following a false trail for miles now! The acromantulas are after you!" Without thinking, she reached to take his hands in hers, clutching them close, surprised at their warmth, especially when she was still surrounded by the fires of her transformation.

"Acromantulas?" he drew his head back a bit, his gaze reflecting disbelief, though he did not pull his hands away. "I was following Aurors. If you really are Fawkes, then you'll understand when I tell you that I have a mission. If you let me complete it I promise to ask the Dark Lord to spare Dumbledore's life when we take over."

"Severus," her voice cracked a little as she shook her head rapidly back and forth. Why didn't he understand? Was it because of his youth? Fawkes had been transformed at the age of twenty-eight, and so she was older than her dear companion now, perhaps more capable of thinking critically where he could not. "You were a good student. I'm sure you know about their abilities. How they pluck the strings of their webs to mimic the sound of human footsteps and lure in their prey. There is a large colony living here in the Forbidden Forest. You saw their webs. They are crawling around in the trees above us right now. _You _are the victim Severus, not the Aurors. You _must _escape with your life."

"Impossible!" This time he did draw his hands away, taking a few steps back from her, though not bolting. Thank God he wasn't bolting. "If there were acromantulas living in this forest the Dark Lord would have warned us. Acromantulas aren't even native to this part of the world."

At Severus's declaration the girl sighed, her eyes, as dark as Severus's own, flicking down to the ground as she shook her head. "Severus..." Her voice saying his name was sweet, like one of her songs, if she truly was Fawkes. Even more confusing, Severus found himself regretting letting go of her hands. He did not allow many women to touch him, not since Lily had left, something Bellatrix Lestrange found no end of amusement in and took advantage of whenever she had a chance. But this woman...

"You're being fooled," she met his gaze again, the conviction in those eyes reminding him of her phoenix fire. She still seemed to subtly glow in the dark night, the fires taking time to dim around her new form. "Your Dark Lord doesn't care for you the way you think he does. He's known about the acromantulas ever since he was a student at Hogwarts. He's the only reason Rubeus Hagrid was expelled and prohibited from performing magic. The spider was Hagrid's pet, blamed for the deaths in the forties, but it was a lie your master concocted to protect the truth and his own involvement. Dumbledore believed Hagrid, and they allowed the acromantulas to live here. I know. I was there. I saw everything. If you don't believe me just look up, and not for a split second, really look. Use your wand. They're there."

Severus opened his mouth, about to ask why he should bother believing anything she said, but he could not bring himself to do so. He retrieved his ebony and, ironically, phoenix feather wand from where he had replaced it in his robe pockets, and muttered a quiet _Lumos minima_. The soft glow that emanated was just enough for him to look up into the trees.

It was then that it all invaded his senses at once. His ears picked up the excited clicking of their chelicerae, his eyes met their eight glowing ones and their furry, immense bodies as they scuttled by, some stopping to watch him as though already drooling for his flesh. And the threads, the ones he had thought were tricks of his mind in the dark, they were strewn from tree to tree in tangled masses of webs.

He stepped back, but the trees were everywhere, and he felt fear. True fear such that he hadn't felt in a long time, since he had developed his confidence in his powers as a Death Eater. But no lone wizard nor even a pair such as he and Fawkes were match for an army of spiders such as this. He spun back to face his companion. Meanwhile the spiders seemed to be biding their time as they watched, probably thinking they had two human meals now. "But the Aurors-"

"They must be long gone by now," Fawkes interrupted, reading his thoughts.

"Probably when I was no longer able to sense their minds..." he realized this with great trepidation. How long had he been following the spiders' mimicry, oblivious to the true danger he was in? He gaped at Fawkes. "You saved my life. Why?"

"Because I had to. Because... only I could do it," she answered mysteriously, but her eyes were damp with tears. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and reached for his hand again. "We have no time to waste. Apparate away with me. Please."

He felt safer just with her hand in his, and for a moment the complicated details of the situation escaped him. He nodded, and in an instant their bodies were being squeezed through Apparition Space, Non-being, Everything, and they emerged outside the Hogwarts gates, their surroundings as quiet as if nothing had happened tonight in the first place.


	3. Their Song

**A/N: Here's the penultimate chapter! Just one more to go! :-)**

* * *

CHAPTER THREE: THEIR SONG

* * *

"Where are they?" Severus looked all around, expecting to see his comrades... somewhere. But there was no one.

"Severus, I told you," Fawkes hated to see the man, really still a boy in so many ways, look so confused, but he had to know the truth. "They're gone. They gave up on your return, left you for dead."

"What?" he turned on her, those dark eyes blazing, but Fawkes was not afraid. He had harshness in him, but he was still her Severus. There was goodness in him too, even if he didn't know it. "That's impossible. You mean they didn't even try to find me? Surely at least Lucius-"

"No," she shook her head. "I think he thought about it, but he was too afraid of your master to disobey his order. They don't care for you, Severus. Not enough to save you when their own numbers are at further risk."

Severus Snape's gaze hardened, and he set his mouth in a line. "Very well then. If that's the way they'll have it, then I won't be a Death Eater to serve the Dark Lord any longer, but for my own purposes. It's the ends that matter, not the means. As long as I'm a part of the takeover, as long as I subjugate the Muggle population, I need no affection for the Dark Lord."

Fawkes didn't know what she had expected Severus to say, but now that he had said it she was not surprised. After all, most followers of dark wizards didn't join up because they cared for their leaders, but because they saw them as the only people who could get them what they wanted. "Why do you desire that so much?" she kept her voice soft, her hand still in his, their eyes still locked together. "Take it from me, it's not worth it. We gain much more by living in harmony with Muggles than by trying to subjugate them, even if we live separately." Finally, _finally _she had the chance to say these words to someone who needed to hear them. "Is it because of him, that you feel this way? Because of your father?"

Severus stared at her for a long moment, and for an instant she saw that same vulnerability in his eyes that she had seen when she had sat with him as a little boy, but it was quickly gone. Replaced by shock and even anger. Once again he released her hand and drew away. "That was you!"

Fawkes's heart caught in her throat. She hadn't even considered this angle, but now it was all too clear. Surely a person as private at Severus would balk at the thought of another human being hearing his deepest thoughts, even as a child. That was why she had made him feel safe then, because she had been a bird. A male bird, even, or so he had apparently thought at the time.

"Please," she tried. "Don't be angry with me. If it pleases you I won't bring it up again, but I never believed the spell would be broken. I had fully expected to stay a phoenix by then. Long before then, really. I only wanted to help."

"That doesn't make it all right," he said, though he relaxed his stance a bit. "But... a spell? A thousand years? And you said you helped me because you 'had to'?"

His brain seemed to be regaining its full functionality, and he was a brilliant wizard, even just barely out of adolescence. He was certain to have many questions. "If you'll let me take you somewhere safer than this, we can talk. I'll explain everything." She didn't want to suggest a place. Hogwarts was out, because she didn't know, first of all, if she could get back in in her human form, and secondly she wasn't entirely certain she could trust Severus within those walls, while he still had his Death Eater convictions. And the thought of asking to go to Severus's home with him made her blush. So she would let him decide the locale. The very thought of having the time to just sit down with someone, perhaps eat human food, and _tell _her story... well, the pure joy of it didn't even fully register in her mind.

"I..." he hesitated, and Fawkes could barely believe her eyes, but Severus was reaching out, his hand moving for hers, taking it in his again. Her body was on fire, and it had nothing to do with previously being a phoenix. "I suppose, for a little while..."

"Stop!" A strong voice and the pounding of hooves interrupted their moment, and they turned in unison to see a centaur with white-blond fur and hair galloping towards them, skidding to stop nearby, his brilliant blue eyes anxious.

"Firenze?" Fawkes had no idea what was going on.

"You mustn't leave together. I have read the stars. Your fates are much graver than that. If you are seen in public now, Fawkes, in that form, then we will all suffer the consequences far into the future."

"Ridiculous," Severus snapped, but Fawkes shook her head. She didn't know how... perhaps she had a bit of the Second Sight, as Trelawny liked to babble on about at school, but as soon as Firenze had spoken those words she realized that she still had a bad feeling in her chest about tonight. In her desperation to save Severus and her bliss at being safe and together with him she had forgotten it, but now it was back.

"Listen to him Severus, please," she said. "I think he might be speaking the truth."

Severus still looked doubtful, but he remained silent and let Firenze speak again. "You are both needed for other things. Other, very important things that will shape our entire society. Fawkes, you were the only one who could save Severus from the acromantulas because you were the only one he would listen to, the only one he would bother to trust long enough to learn the truth. Because you and he are tied by fate, by the stars..."

Fawkes turned to meet Severus's gaze and found that he had done the same, and his dark eyes held a gentle conviction. He felt it too, that the centaur's words were true. That they were, somehow, meant for each other from the beginning. Had he been the one she had dreamt of all along, even from when it had all started a thousand years ago... the one to take her away, to give her her freedom? She sensed it as true. Had fate been at play even as far back as then? Had it set her on the path to be taken by the evil dark wizard Aldous, to become a phoenix, to return to Hogwarts and become Albus's companion, just so that she would meet Severus one day?

"You must return to your old lives, at least until your missions are complete. And you mustn't let on to anyone that you have encountered each other in this manner, not until the day the Dark Lord takes his last breath. This much I know for certain."

She believed him. Fawkes still believed him and so too, she knew, did Severus, but it still didn't sit right with her. Firenze's words made no sense to her mind, even when her heart understood their truth. "I don't understand," she told the centaur. "How can I return to my previous life now that the spell has been broken?"

"You know." Once again he appealed to a deeper level of understanding that her logical mind could not touch. "You have been a phoenix for near a thousand years. Your body is so familiar with the state that you should be able to use the Animagus spell to transform again without hesitation."

"Truly?" she murmured, the centaur's image blurring with her tears, but she knew he was telling the truth. Then, it was back to her old life and her old ways, at least until Voldemort's destruction.

Severus watched the expression on Fawkes's face and it tugged at his heartstrings. He felt her sorrow, and her knowledge, even without the use of Legilimency. The centaur's ridiculous babblings were true in this case. They had to return to their old lives. There would be no whisking Fawkes away to a far-off establishment to learn her story, and he would not feel the touch of her hands again until the spell was broken.

Perhaps the death of the Dark Lord would be the start of a new life... one in which _he_, Severus,made the rules, and the Wizarding world could rule over the Muggles without abandoning their companions in forests to be eaten by acromantulas. And then they would be together again, and she would understand his position. Already she had not abandoned him for disagreeing with her and for being a Death Eater, the way Lily had.

Thinking back on Lily, he still felt the fond affection coupled with loss that he always had, but it was different now. He still wished for her to see him as he truly was, to be his friend again, but the feelings he felt for Fawkes were stronger. Stronger than anything he had ever felt before in his life. "Will I see you again?" the vulnerable murmur left his lips before he could think. He wanted to be sure she would stay with him, although in his heart he knew she would.

Fawkes drew in a trembling breath and turned her tearful gaze upon him, reaching her soft hand out to rest on his cheek, and he closed his eyes and placed his hand over hers, indulging in this touch for a moment. This touch that would soon go away. For how long he did not know.

When he opened his eyes again her own dark irises were full of that conviction, that phoenix fire he had fallen in love with without even realizing it, perhaps since the dawn of time. "You will. I am not bound to Hogwarts as a phoenix, and I can come to you any time I wish, if there are no battles and if I can find you. You are meant for so much more than this, Severus. You are a good man, and I believe in you with all my heart and soul. I will watch over you, and some day, when our missions are complete, we'll be together again. We can... leave all this behind." She closed her eyes and sang, for a moment, lines of the songs he had heard her sing so often before. Her voice was even sweeter as a woman... it spoke of such loneliness, such longing, and yet... hope.

Severus allowed himself to smile, reaching forward to pull her into his arms. "I will carry you away," he promised. She would see, would see the kind of person he was, and they would be together again. Whatever her past, he was now her future.

Fawkes closed her eyes as a few tears slipped down her cheeks, indulging in this bliss, this glorious moment with Severus. He was holding her in his arms, and they were together. She had found the one to carry her away, to rescue her from her imprisonment, and though she would remain a phoenix for some time still, she knew in her heart they would find each other again, and all would be well. He still fashioned himself a Death Eater now, but if Firenze's words were true, they both had roles to play in a mission that would _save _this world and culminate in Voldemort's destruction. But she didn't need the centaur's words. She knew her Severus, and she knew that when he grew older he would come to see his own truth, and take the right side. And no matter what, she loved him.

Drawing gently back, Fawkes leaned up and their lips met for a brief, lingering moment. It was strange, this being in love, so sudden and yet so true. They did not even need to say the words for their meaning to be clear. As a former victim of sexual abuse, Fawkes should have been afraid to love, but she had lived so long as a phoenix and seen so many close, loving relationships that any fears had subsided a long time ago. And there was a wave of magic connecting her with Severus, a knowledge of a reality they had chosen that reached beyond fears. That glittered with the truth of their destiny, together.

Their lips parted and Fawkes stepped back, closing her eyes as Severus and Firenze watched. Severus still felt the lingering warmth of her lips against his as he watched his beloved transform into a phoenix again, instantly as the centaur had said she would be able to. Then, without another word, Firenze nodded his satisfaction at their actions and galloped back into the forest. Fawkes, her shining black bird eyes sad, flew forward, hovering in front of Severus for their bittersweet parting. She leaned forward and pressed her head into his hand and he embraced her, surprised at the warmth her feathers exuded, and at the same time remembering it from when he had been a small boy, and she had been the only friend he could tell all of his story too.

"When this is all over, will you tell me _your _story?" he asked her when their gazes met again.

She nodded, their thoughts as one, and then she lifted off and flew back over the gates, in the direction of Hogwarts and her home with the headmaster.

And, already dreaming of the day he would see her next, Severus Apparated away into the night.


	4. The Future

**A/N: Well, this is it, the final chapter! Thank you so much to everyone for reading, and to peppernator0817, my beta CommanderValeria, and the rest of the folks over at the Lovers of the Potions Master Facebook group for an excellent writing challenge! I have truly fallen love with this story. Happy reading! :-)**

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FUTURE

* * *

The next time Fawkes saw Severus, the world had changed.

He sat in front of Albus's desk, his head down and his breathing ragged as he lamented the death of his dear friend Lily Evans Potter. He hadn't had much chance to look at Fawkes without Dumbledore noticing when he'd come in, but the moment she had seen his anguished gaze she had felt as though her soul had been crushed.

She watched as Albus talked Severus through the situation, appealing to his love for Lily. Severus only glanced her way once in the conversation, when this love was brought up. But Fawkes already knew he loved Lily. She had been his closest friend and he had had hopes to win her back to him, if only now to regain their previous relationship. There had been a great deal of history there. But it was not the same kind of love that he had for Fawkes.

It was only when Albus had left the room for a moment that Severus turned more fully to her, walking over to stroke her and press his head against her wing, his tears of loss dissolving into her feathers. "You were right, you know?" his voice was the faintest whisper. "These Death Eater goals... they can only lead us to ruin. How could I be so blind?"

Cooing gently, she rubbed her head against his, offering him as much comfort as she could give in this form, and he quickly pulled himself together again, kissing the top of her head in thanks. "I'm sorry I didn't give you the opportunity to visit me sooner," he confessed. "What with the Death Eaters and the Order battling day and night... for no good reason... I couldn't stay in one place very long. I'll be glad to be able to return home for a bit." He managed a small smile. "I'm going to be teaching at Hogwarts now, to watch over Potter when the day comes... We'll have hundreds of opportunities to see each other now..."

* * *

They had another moment alone together with Albus out of the room, but this moment was one of sorrow for both of them. So many years had passed, and with them as many moments of joy as they could manage together. But now everything was about to change.

Severus sat next to Fawkes, stroking along her warm red feathers. "If we succeed in killing Albus, which the headmaster has just ordered must happen... the Dark Lord has promised to make me headmaster." He paused, pulling his emotions together before he could utter the next words, of which he already knew the answer. "You won't stay here with me, will you?"

Fawkes's dark eyes filled with phoenix tears as she looked up at him and shook her head 'no'. For a moment Severus wished those tears had the strength to heal the curse on Albus's hand, but they didn't. There were so many things neither Fawkes nor Severus could heal these days. They could only do what they could do.

They were both going to lose the closest mutual friend they had, at Severus's own hand. And Fawkes, as Albus's companion, had no choice but to leave after he passed. It would be what was expected of her, and if she did not do so, people would notice.

And she knew that Severus understood. But he embraced her in his sorrow just the same. It was going to be a lonely year at Hogwarts without her...

* * *

Severus had waited until the three students left the Shrieking Shack to take the potions he had with him, the anti-venin putting an end to the pain of Nagini's bite.

It was up to Potter now. He had given him all the information he needed, and now all Severus could do was find somewhere to lay low until – hopefully – the Dark Lord was vanquished.

He cast a disillusionment charm upon himself and crept from the shack. No one would bother to look for his body until the battle was over, and at that point it wouldn't matter either way.

As he crossed the grounds he noticed that the acromantulas had been driven from the forest and were assisting in the battle. It reminded Severus bittersweetly of the old days, of the day his fate had changed. And though Fawkes had gone from the castle a year ago, he still heard her songs in his dreams.

Hagrid, foolishly, seemed to be trying to protect the spiders from the Death Eaters. Severus could not help but roll his eyes at that, but he also appreciated that some spirits could not be broken even with the carnage all around them. The groundskeeper remained himself.

In many ways Severus wanted to help, but his job was done. He sensed that if he lingered or revealed himself, it may change things in a way he did not wish to have them changed. At this point, no one could save their world but Potter. However, none of it would have been possible without the help of many, including Severus himself, and Fawkes.

The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters had captured Hagrid and were towing him off to the Forbidden Forest where, hopefully, Potter would make his way soon.

Perhaps the boy would survive the encounter somehow. Hopefully, Lily understood the situation. She would be there with her son, at least, and she would know what Severus had done for him, and for Albus. That was all the redemption he could ask for from his old friend.

Now... he hoped he could start a new life.

Severus waited by the headmaster's tomb at the Black Lake, as time passed until finally Hagrid carried the body of an apparently deceased Harry Potter back into Hogwarts. Severus held his breath, waited... and then cheers erupted from inside the castle, including cries that indicated Potter was alive. He let out a breath of relief. Lily's son was safe. His mission was complete, and in the way that he had hoped for.

When, some minutes later, a second, even louder round of cheering rang out from the castle Severus took his chance, his heart thundering in his chest as he left his post and headed towards the castle. When he heard the evidence with his own ears, that the Dark Lord had been vanquished, it was all he could do not to cheer himself as he canceled the disillusionment charm that had been concealing him.

But no one noticed his presence in the celebrations and thrill at the Dark Lord's defeat. No one, except the Divination teacher. Firenze met Severus's gaze, smiled, and gave a single nod.

And that was all Severus needed to see.

It didn't matter if the other witches and wizards knew he was alive now or not, only one thing mattered, and that was that it was _over. _And he knew where to go. The same place from before, the place they had said good-bye, would be the place where they would say hello.

And like a brilliant ray of sun outside of the open, collapsed Hogwarts gates, there she was. Fawkes, in human form, her jet black hair shimmering in the morning sky and her eyes glittering with joy as Severus came to her and gathered her into his arms, spinning them around until they collapsed onto the soft grass, reunited at last.

"Severus." Her lips saying his name was as sweet as it had been the first time they'd met in this form. "Merlin, I missed you so much."

"Fawkes..." He had said her name many times before, over the past twenty years, but her face still lit up to hear it. He stood, helping her stand with him and greeting her again with a kiss. "You stayed nearby. I knew you would."

"I stayed as close as I could," she reached her hands up to caress his face, her eyes still shining with the joy and love they shared. "I knew we'd be all right soon. Oh, Severus, I..." suddenly, she laughed, a bright tinkling sound he had never heard before but which was now vying with his name and her song for the title of sweetest sound in the world. "Look. You're older than I am now. Phoenix's don't _really _age, you know."

Severus laughed, the sound fresh and welcoming to his ears. Now he would have every opportunity in the world to be happy with Fawkes without concealing himself. He no longer had to hide. They were both free. "I want you to tell me your story." He smiled. "I'd tell you mine, but you've seen all of it."

She smiled back, wrapping her arms around his neck again and kissing him. "But I still want to hear it again and again."


End file.
